Thursday, March 25, 2010

Clementine Black Olive Salad

A few months ago I was called for a food styling job. Before it started, the photographer, a superb professional guy, had a meeting with a chef for deciding what dishes for the shooting. Since I couldn't go so he phoned me to tell me the detail afterwards.

One of the dishes they planned to do was orange & olive salad, recommended by the chef. Its ingredients? The name tells it all - orange and olive.

'....................' a long silent from me. No trendy pomegranate seeds? or exotic cumin? or yogurt from Greece? or an oriental touch from ginger? I mean, I was so used to hear/see something plenty and fancy.

The photographer helped me to call the chef to verify. He called me back and said, 'bascially just these two, with a bit of onion and mint.'

Oooooooookay...

I was very curious: what chemistry was the duo going to create? have enough 'weight' to seize a spotlight in public? why the chef recommended it?

One the shooting day, while Michelle, a very experienced chef, was making the salad, I cranked up my neck behind her back, thinking, maybe the dressing itself hiding a lot of ingredients (???)

'Noooo...' she told me softly. The dressing is simply the juice from the fruit, then a bit of oil, maybe some salt/sugar/pepper to adjust the taste.

I tasted her salad, I was totally blew away! After combining the sweet/tartness with saltiness the taste was very intriguing and unexpected. I ended up eating one more mouthful, then another and others, completely allured by the new flavor.

"Less is more", another wonderful simple recipe.

After the photographer's work gets published, I would let you guys go look at his original recipe and detail. For now here's my interpreation to the salad.